#996 Quote of the day – Joan Didion

December 15, 2009

“My only advantage as a reporter is that I’m so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does. That is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out.”

[Live and Learn – Joan Didion]

That final statement really resonates with me today, and I’ll explain why.After phoning the producers yesterday, I did get an invitation to the America’s Next Top Model fashion show tonight but there was a catch – if I wanted to go I would have had to have signed the USD$5,000,000 non-disclosure agreement.

After the first conversation with the producers it seemed as if this would mean I could simply not report on the models that were involved in the show tonight. In the second conversation (and after reading the contract), it became clear that it would have meant that I could never really mention anything about the show again on my blog until it airs in the United States.

Although I really really really really really (I can’t stress this enough) did want to go tonight and watch the show and (hopefully) meet Tyra Banks, Jay Manuel, Miss Jay, Nigel Barker and Andre Leon Talley, the price to pay would have been too high.

I don’t mean simply that I wouldn’t have been allowed to write about ANTM anymore, but I would have forfeited my right to speak freely and independently – which is, after all, the sole purpose of doing what I do. I understand that this might seem somewhat hypocritical due to the fact that I accept gifts from designers – suits from Crane Brothers and Working Style, clothing from Kate Sylvester, but despite the freebies, I do still believe that I am able to maintain integrity.

But I didn’t feel that I could keep my integrity as a blogger and sign the non-disclosure agreement.

So, to everybody who is going to go tonight, have fun, and think of me when you’re rubbing shoulders with the judges. Maybe say hi to them from me. I’ll be thinking of you all.

I think you’re being a tad overly-dramatic, making yourself out to be a matyr for free speech (it’s not like you’re a political writer/activist in China or Iran).

Bankable Productions have every right to protect their product in order to ensure that it generates maximun viewer numbers and advertising revenue when it airs next year. Making sure that spoilers about important parts of the show do not get out are a pivitol part of protecting the product that they have invested so much money and time creating.

You have blogged about the fact that everyone who is involved in any facet of the production of ANTM has to sign the $5 million confidentiality agreement, so why chase down an invite to the final runway show if you are ethically opposed to signing the obviously mandatory confidentiality agreement?

good on you for not signing their silly bit of paper, but go and stand outside and tell us who is going in. It is all fun, and fun to read about , but it is just a t.v. show about skinny girls and a lot of B list celebrities. thank you for entertaining me in a week I needed it.

Where is it mentioned that they have no right to protect their assets? Isaac was given a choice, and he made one based on what he felt was right for himself and was, nevertheless, thrilled for others to attend and enjoy the event.